Victory was within sight but out of reach for Notley’s party
It was a historic election result for the Alberta NDP.
Rachel Notley’s NDP won 38 seats in last week’s election and will form the largest Official Opposition in the province’s history. The NDP got more votes in this election than it ever has before, including a historic high of 49% in Calgary. The party ran the most sophisticated, well-organized and best-funded campaign in its history.
But it fell short of its ultimate goal of forming government.
One reply on “The election aftermath for Alberta’s NDP”
One big problem now for the NDP is the electoral map is heavily weighted towards the less urban parts of Alberta. You can’t win just with Edmonton and over half of Calgary, but you can win with the rest of Alberta and a bit less than half of Calgary. Perhaps that will change a bit over time, in the future.
Another big problem is the Federal NDP is seen to be too cozy to the Federal Liberals. Perhaps at some point in the future that will change, but this is a problem now, particularly in the rest of Alberta, see above.
The final big problem for the Alberta NDP is that the UCP actually ran a fairly disciplined campaign and the economy was doing ok. At least for month or two, Smith was not very gaffe prone. All those attacks by the NDP might have put pressure on the UCP to be more disciplined. However, I have a feeling the more disciplined approach will not last long for the UCP now that the election is over.
Could the NDP have run a better campaign? Probably, but several of the biggest hurdles this time were beyond their control. So, at this point, you learn whatever lessons you can, don’t dwell on it too much and hope for somewhat better circumstances next time.